E-awareness

New Delhi| Seeking to raise awareness on cashless transactions, the NCC will conduct a countrywide campaign on the occasion of the National Youth Day, its Director General said today, while asserting that the move was in consonance with the Prime Minister's vision.

"On January 12 (National Youth Day), all of our 17 directorates will be holding campaigns at their own level to raise awareness on cashless transactions. Each cadet would try to reach out to at least 10 people.

"Our Prime Minister had exhorted the youth to help the country move towards a new future and so, as a voluntary organisation training and shaping the youth, we felt we should be part of it, so we took this decision," DG of the National Cadet Corps Lt Gen. Vinod Vashisht told reporters here.

Addressing a press conference to mark the commencement of the NCC Republic Day Camp at Delhi Cantonment, he also highlighted the NCC vision for 2017.

"We target to adopt one or two villages this year and aim to work with the department concerned in the government, so as to contribute to the overall growth plan. Our cadets have already volunteered towards making places ODF (open defecation-free) and we wish to continue to move ahead in the sanitation department," Vashisht said.

He also emphasised on expanding the footprint of the NCC, established in 1948, while reaching out to the north-eastern tribal and Maoist-affected areas, as also on increasing the presence of girl cadets.

2,068 cadets, including 696 girl cadets, drawn from the 17 directorates covering all the states and union territories are participating in the camp.

"This also includes 102 cadets from Jammu and Kashmir and 162 from the north-east," Vashisht said.

"Out of the 688 districts in the country, we are present in 683 and our target would be to reach out to the remaining districts too. Our authorised strength is 13.8 lakh and we are present in 10,742 schools and 5,546 colleges with over 8,000 institutions on the waiting list," he added.

"The percentage of girl cadets is over 28 and there has been a rise of 0.4-0.5 per cent over the last year. We target to increase their overall percentage to 30," Vashisht said.

The government is already in the process of raising new NCC units in the coastal areas in the west along with the areas affected by left-wing extremism and insurgency, besides those bordering Pakistan and China through a five-phase programme, he added.

"We have reached phase three and we hope to meet the 15 lakh target by 2019-20," said the DG, NCC.